Investigation of Natural Convection Heat Transfer Coefficient on Extended Vertical Base Plates

M. Fahiminia, M. M. Naserian, H. R. Goshayeshi, D. Majidian

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DOI: 10.4236/epe.2011.32022                

Abstract

In this research, Computational analysis of the laminar natural convection on vertical surfaces has been in-vestigated. Natural convection is observed when density gradients are present in a fluid acted upon by a gravitational field. Our example of this phenomenon is the heated vertical plate exposed to air, which, far from the plate, is motionless. The CFD simulations are carried out using fluent software. Governing equa-tions are solved using a finite volume approach. Coupling between the velocity and pressure is made with SIMPLE algorithm. The resultant system of discretized linear algebraic equations is solved with an alternat-ing direction implicit scheme. Then a configuration of rectangular fins is put in different ways on the surface and natural convection heat transfer coefficient on these no slope surfaces is studied and finally optimization is done.

Keywords

Natural Convection, Vertical Surfaces, Simple Algorithm, Rectangular Fins

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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